- Adam is late
- BBC News
2 hours ago
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to the Spanish capital, Madrid, to attend the NATO summit.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he were a woman.
Johnson said the “crazy masculine invasion is a good example of toxic masculinity” and called for “more women to be in positions of power”.
Johnson’s comments came ahead of a NATO summit meeting where allies will discuss how to respond to future threats.
It is scheduled to call on the British Prime Minister, at the summit meeting in Madrid, the leaders of the alliance countries to increase military spending.
The British government said that the UK’s military spending is expected to reach 2.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product this year, as a result of investment in defense industries and the provision of 1.3 billion pounds in military support to Ukraine.
Many other NATO countries have not met the annual spending target set by NATO of 2 percent of each member’s gross domestic product.
On Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called on Johnson to increase spending on Britain’s armed forces further, in light of the “threat posed by Russia”.
Johnson spoke, during an interview with the German “ZDF” network, after his participation in the summit of the seven rich countries with Bavaria, about equality between nationality and the importance of education.
“We need to have more women in positions of power,” he said.
“If Putin had been a woman, obviously not, but if he had been a woman, I don’t think he would have launched a crazy male war of conquest and violence the way he did,” Johnson said.
“If you want a good example of toxic masculinity, the example is what he’s doing in Ukraine,” he added.
Johnson also said that while the leaders of the seven countries “badly” want the war in Ukraine to end, “there is no agreement available” at the moment.
But he also described the summit as “fantastic” as the leaders were “closer and closer” to reaching an agreement.
Johnson said the West should support Ukraine’s military strategy in order to put its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “in the best possible position” in his negotiations with Russia “when the time for negotiations finally comes.”
The NATO summit meeting in Madrid comes after an agreement was concluded between Turkey on the one hand and Finland and Sweden, which want to join NATO, on the other hand, which removes the last obstacles either.